| Ivo Skoric on Sun, 22 Aug 2004 06:33:48 +0200 (CEST) |
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Bechtelgate Summer in Croatia
heating up
Re: heating up
Is Milosevic next?
Artists and Immigrants!
Bechtel in Croatia
FYI: Conscripts booted out of army for 'internet addiction' (Reuters &c.)
Fun Read
US Nuclear (Un)safety
Re: (Fwd) Ex-Chess Champ Fischer Renouncing U.S. Citizenship
Sick, Poor and Undocumented
Justice is sluggish and cumbersome....
We NEED peace.
Insidious Changes
Interpellation Needed
Croatia: home of the deepest hole in the world
ACLU: Special Update
Abu what?
The New Axis
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 14:29:40 -0400
Subject: Bechtelgate Summer in Croatia
While Vesna Skare-Ozbolt, the Justice Minister, may be on the right
path urging the legislature to drop the atavistic defamation law from
the Croatia's books this Fall, awarding the highway building contract
to Bechtel, with no bidding, may still haunt Miomir Zuzul, the
Foreign Minister, who used to be Bechtel's lobbyist in Croatia. It is
now all over Croatia's press, becoming the top summer scandal in the
country that loves political piquantries.
The news now is that Croatia announced it will drop the Bechtel
contract, if the European Commission finds that the awarding process
was at fault. So, Zuzul can save his face before his (former?) U.S.
corporate bosses. Because, European Commission will hardly judge in
favor of the U.S. corporate interests (especially keeping in mind how
high in the US military-industrial complex that particular US
corporation is). Therefore, we may expect Bechtel will lose the
contract. But it will be European Commission's fault - not Croatian
government's, which, in best faith, wanted to present their country
as a tribute to those who pay them the most.
It is striking however, from a position of an observer abroad, how
subservient and un-sovereign is the decision to let European
Commission decide on the validity of a Croatia's government contract
with a US corporation. Does not Croatia have courts? Rules of trade?
Contract laws? Judges? Why would government rather subject itself to
the judgement of the European Commission in that matter, than to the
judgement of Croatia's courts? Why would EC have any interest in
ruling in this case, given that Croatia is not a EU member?
Another sad reality is that, if you do an on-line search looking for
similar stories, you will find a Dick Cheney in every country of the
world. The 'Dick of Croatia' may be Miomir Zuzul. But there is also a
'Dick of Phillipines' and of Indonesia, and there is also one of
Bulgaria and Kazakhstan: there are corrupt government officials
everywhere, in every small country, and they are all different
nationalities - the only thing they have in common is that they are
paid by the U.S. corporations. Emerging markets and transitional
states seem to be created to present the opportunity for profit of
the wealthy US-based multi-national corporations. The ambassadors
from those countries to the U.S., are agressively lobbied by the US
multinationals into working for them, once they go back to their
countries. That's what we get.
ivo ---------------------------------------------------------
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 11:31:08 -0400
Subject: heating up
Just a few observations from the election year America:
1) it is interesting to watch. people from democratic campaign
stealing classified documents from the national archives to protect
their former boss. that's really a highlight of how is the ethics
perceived on both sides of the fence of the upcoming choice between a
man that can't make up his mind, and a man that have his mind made up
by the Carlyle group.
2) shelves in the bookstores are bending under the weight of hefty
tomes written in a last couple of years about the Bush regime.
fortunately for him, his subjects, kind of like him, do not read
books. otherwise, he would not only lose elections, but probably go
to prison, and maybe, just maybe, walk the last mile. the open-ness
with which he is bashed in this books has a quality still lacking in
many eastern european societies. there, the social will is still
controled by reducing the input of information. here, it is quite the
opposite: anything goes, and it is impossible to say what is real,
gasping for truth while carried in the vicious torrent of released
information.
3) recent changes in campaign law, opened a possibility for the very
partisan non-partisan groups to operate. this evokes memories of
Serbia in 2002 when the Otpor! youth movement got people to unseat
Milosevic. the copy-cat movement sponsored by rich pro-Democrat
leaning individuals (like Soros) in the US hopes to do the same here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/24/politics/campaign/24ground.html?th
4) on the streets of New York I was already stopped four times by
young lads with writing pads asking me the same question: "Will you
help defeat George Bush?" Of course, like everybody else who stops
you on the street in NYC, they were looking for money. as an
immigrant I do have a dilemma: as I cannot vote, why would I support
either candidate? true, Ashcroftian State made this country less
appealing to immigrants, but the abject 1996 anti-immigrant laws were
signed in by the Democratic president.
5) The problem with the US is that the "white wine and cheese" urban
professionals - that those of us, who came of age during the 80s,
call Yuppies - here are called 'liberal left', while in fact they are
all conservative Thatcherites by the European standards. So the
ketchup president may be no more friendly to immigrants than the
blood for oil president. The real leftists and the real liberals are
quickly dismissed as anarchists and troublemakers. And the ruling
party has no option but to be on the right of the Thatcher mark. In
Europe that space is reserved for specialized fringe parties with
names like National Front, and with ideology bordering dangerously on
Nazism. In the US, that's mainstream politics of a ruling political
party...
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 13:17:07 -0400
Subject: Re: heating up
Yeah. We have two imperial dinasties: Bushes and Kennedys. And they
are clashing this year in the fight for the coveted post of Emperor.
Kerry doesn't only have initials like JFK, he is Ted Kennedy's
protege from the beginning. Kerry promises return to the Clinton-
Augustus Pax Americana peace and prosperity. Bush promises the
continuation of the conquest of new provinces and more loot for his
pro-consuls.
The ordinary American plebs is as far removed from the possibility of
playing a role in the US politics, as it was in the Roman imperial
democracy. Yes, they vote. But they vote as they are drilled to.
Nobody has the time and/or resources to make an informed choice. And
there is no much of a choice to make. Because the most important
player in the elections is the dollar, or rather millions of dollars.
So, it is essentially a patrician game, an aristocratic pursuit. Is
there a difference between the candidates? Yes, it is. This year they
all put emphasis on it - because in year 2000, the two houses walked
and talked the same, so nobody bothered to make a choice. But will it
really matter in the end? No. I bet the US will not get either
national health care, or better education, either more equittable
wealth distribution, or less military spending in the next four
years, even if Kerry gets elected. Ok, he will try to repair
relations with Europe. Something Bush doesn't give two dimes about.
And there will be difference whether homosexuals can call their
living together a marriage or not. Or whether women can under special
circumstances abort in the 2nd trimester. All popular TV issues that
affect about 0.1% of population. But neither one will be able to get
the US troops out of Iraq easily.
The loudest message I am getting from the Kerry camp is that by
voting for Kerry we shall restore the US place in the world: as loved
and trusted country. Bush all but destroyed that by his cowboyism.
People now hate and mistrust Americans. But wait a minute: US
military bombed somebody under each and every administration,
Republican or Democrat. Yes, Clinton left the US in relative peace
and prosperity. But the prosperity had nothing to do with him, but
rather with the dot.com boom. And under his smooth and gregarious
administration the phrase pre-emptive strikes was first ever used
when he ordered cruise missiles hitting Karthoum and Afghanistan.
Under his administration, Yugoslavia was bombed. And other his
administration the most restrictive anti-immigrant laws were passed
in 1996 - the effects of which today many mistakenly ascribe to the
Patriot Act. Now there are rumors that under Kerry-Edwards Holbroke
may become the Secretary of State: the man that created Dayton Bosnia
- a decade ago, and the poor country is still under the rule of the
international community and the high representative, divided in two
un-cooperating entities, sovereign just in the fantasies of
Holbroke's memoir writer. Scary. Is it then that Democrats are just
more successfully mendacious? But not really less mendacious than
Republicans.
Well, I have an interesting proposal to the US Supreme Court:
temporarily strike down Constitutional requirement for US President
to be born citizen and appoint Arnold as the President. He is
efficient - he got California's budget passed quicker than any of his
predecessors. He is presidential. There is nobody who looks tougher
than him. He spiks softly, but there is no question about him
carrying a big stick with his 50-inches biceps. He can raise more
money by one movie, than both imperial families can raise together in
two years of campaigning. He is a Republican, thus belonging to the
House of Bush. But he is also married into the House of Kennedy. Thus
being the only person in the world to bridge the gap between the two
houses so prominently. None of the US born Republican patrician
wankers could come even close to doing that. And as a native
European, he would make the present day hatred of America in Europe
all but gone. Hell, the Austrians already printed a postal stamp with
his face. And he could also deliver a speech at Deutsches Bundestag
in German, even better than Vlad Putin does. The world would finally
be united under one ruler, Conan the Destroyer.
ivo
On 29 Jul 2004 at 15:30, melentie wrote:
Sounds like ancient Rome already...
Melentie
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 11:25:56 -0400
Subject: Is Milosevic next?
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/30/international/europe/30trib.html?th
In a controversial decision, the appeals court of the war crimes
tribunal in The Hague yesterday threw out the conviction on major
charges of a Bosnian Croat general and reduced his sentence to 9
years from 45 years. Gen. Tihomir Blaskic, 44, who has already spent
eight years and four months in a tribunal cell, will be immediately
freed. He will travel to Zagreb on Monday, court officials said.
I was a great supporter of ICTY when it was created - but like anyone
else I am quite disappointed with its inability to get the job done.
The Rwanda tribunal seem to have done better (although it is
also wanting). My primary, discerning, question is: is the justice
served well in the target region (of former Yugoslavia) by the ICTY?
And the answer is no.
Nobody really wholeheartedly co-operates with DelPonte. Everybody is
trying to protect their own. When she comes to Serbia, the indictees
are tipped by the police to flee and hide. Those already indicted are
really foot soldiers scapegoated by their bosses. And the bosses seem
to be getting away as the years pass and memories fade. The near-
criminal governments in the region changed skin many times, but their
soul still remained the same: i.e. the ICTY failed to precipitate the
radical change to more law-respecting society in any of the emerging
countries - the fact that more cooperative Croatia appears to be more
law-respecting does not owe anything to ICTY, because Croatia was
ostensibly more law-respecting than Serbia before ICTY inception. The
victims on all sides remained truely shortchanged party.
In chosing retributive over restorative justice the ICTY in the end
did nothing in that one most important aspect of Justice: awarding
victims with something. It is all about punishing the perpetrators.
but that does not put the bread on the table of the victims.
Consequently, it appears that ICTY serves a symbolic purpose for
international community to show the other wanna-be small-country
strongmen what awaits them if they dare to raise up and against the
established world order - while doing close to nothing to address the
grievances of the real plaintiffs. That'd be like a rich civil rights
lawyer exploiting suffering of a black man from NYPD to promote his
name, while his client is languishing in prison.
Bosnian community is still supportive of ICTY, because they see no
other choice, but they are extremely bitter about both Mladic and
Karadzic still being at large - should I repeat - nearly a decade
after the end of 'major hostilities'?
With letting people go - and they just let go their second biggest
"fish", and the carrier of the longest sentence so far, Bosnian-
Croatian general Tihomir Blaskic, originally convicted for the
massacre in Ahmici - the only remaining purpose of the ICTY seems to
be, in my eyes, to house Slobodan Milosevic. An acquitting verdict of
an appelate court would put an end to that last ICTY's symbolic
purpose. Can you imagine if they let Nazis walk from the
Nuerenberg trials? Nobody would take Nuerenberg - or allies -
seriously after that.
So, in the Milosevic's case the ICTY is faced with a no-win choices:
either they will sentence the guy based on the evidence they have,
and wind their operation down somewhat honorably, or they will have
to let him go, and resign their posts. And they should do either of
it QUICKLY now. Why would they have the right to hold a detainee
indefinitely, while the entire Europe is loudly protesting the US
Patriot Act at the same time?
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Wed, 04 Aug 2004 00:02:38 -0400
Subject: Tiho, Tiho....
http://www.vecernji-list.hr/newsroom/news/croatia/59549/index.do
Croatia got its general back. After serving nearly nine years at
Scheveningen, Tihomir Blaskic is back in Zagreb. He has a convenient
name to shout - sounds kind of like Tito, Tito, and people there are
quite accustomed to that sound. But to compare him with Beckman? Did
he flirt with the journalist during the flight, so she became so,
err, swept of her feet not to see his ugly snout correctly?
http://www.vecernji-list.hr/newsroom/news/croatia/56652/index.do
The other general is still in (Croatian) prison: Mirko Norac.
The third, Janko Bobetko, is dead.
And the fourth, Ante Gotovina, is on the lam.
-/-
There is chatter coming from Serbian lists rich with rumors how
Karadzic was actually already captured by SFOR. But held in secret.
(And on undisclosed location, I bet).
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Wed, 04 Aug 2004 00:02:42 -0400
Subject: Bechtel in Croatia
http://www.vecernji-list.hr/newsroom/news/croatia/59881/index.do
Croatian government today abandoned the idea to award Bechtel with
the road building contract without considering other bidders. Media
pressure and public demands for more transparency seem to have
worked.
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Wed, 04 Aug 2004 09:43:39 -0400
Subject: FYI: Conscripts booted out of army for 'internet addiction' (Reuters &c.)
Maybe the Finnish Army needs to be upgraded to the US-style Nintendo
war machine?! That would give the 'internet addicts' something to do
there. They'd love going to the Army, then. Just connect their PC
consoles to the actual remote controlled unmanned killing vehicles,
so they don't have to socially interact with others. They can stay in
their rooms alone for days and shoot the monsters, as they usually
do. No shock. And Finland saves face of its tough men image. I guess
advanced software may be designed to make enemy combatants look like
monsters. For our Finnish friends:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/team_america/
ivo
On 4 Aug 2004 at 9:06, Shebar Windstone wrote:
Hee hee hee!!!!!!!
http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39122872,00.htm
Conscripts booted out of army for 'internet addiction'
August 04 2004
by Jo Best
Crossing a Finnish line…
The Finnish army is in a right old state if one official is to be
believed. A bunch of young men are being excused from military
service
due to a debilitating modern illness - internet addiction. According
to reports, Commander Captain Jyrki Kivela of Finland's military
conscription unit revealed that some of the young men drafted can't
cope with being apart from their beloved PCs and have been booted off
their full term of military service.
The commander said that the internet addicts come of age without
having any friends or hobbies - apart from their computer and online
gaming, of course - and can't cope with the shock of being thrown in
the rough and tumble social whirl that is army life. When they go to
the army doctor to share their woes, a proportion of them are
diagnosed with the terrible affliction of internet addiction.
Finland lost nine per cent of its conscripts last year to illness but
it's not known how many of them suffered from the internet addiction.
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=5
858764§ion=news
Web addicts escape army conscription
Tue 3 August, 2004 14:23
HELSINKI (Reuters) - A number of Finnish conscripts have been excused
their full term of military service because they are addicted to the
Internet, the Finnish Defence Forces says.
Doctors have found the young men miss their computers too much to
cope
with their compulsory six months in the forces.
"For people who play (Internet) games all night and don't have any
friends, don't have any hobbies, to come into the army is a very big
shock," said Commander-Captain Jyrki Kivela at the military
conscription unit on Tuesday.
"Some of (the conscripts) go to the doctor and say they can't stay.
Sometimes, the doctors have said they have an Internet addiction,"
Kivela said.
There are no official figures for the Internet addict dropout rate.
"They get sent home for three years and after that they have to come
back and we ask if they are OK ... they will have had time to grow
up," Kivela said.
Finland called up 26,500 men in 2003, nine percent of whom were
relieved of duty for medical reasons.
However, the Internet drop-outs have not dented national pride in
"sisu", a Finnish quality of being tough and resilient.
"We are very proud of our Finnish men. Eight-two percent of all
Finnish men manage their whole military service," Kivela said.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/03/internet_addicts_finland/
Internet addicts sent home from Finnish military
By Ashlee Vance in Chicago (ashlee.vance at theregister.co.uk)
Published Tuesday 3rd August 2004 20:15 GMT
It used to take a bum leg or a penchant for same sex love to get out
of the army. These days, however, young Fins are using Internet
addiction as a means of avoiding required military service.
Finnish "packet poppers" sent off for service have exhibited painful
longing for their PCs - a longing so profound that military doctors
have become concerned for the youngsters' condition. The Finnish
Defense Forces, showing their kind hearts, have decided to excuse IP
addicts from their six months duty all together, according to a
report
from Reuters.
"For people who play (Internet) games all night and don't have any
friends, don't have any hobbies, to come into the army is a very big
shock," Commander-Captain Jyrki Kivela at the military conscription
unit told the news service. "Some of (the conscripts) go to the
doctor
and say they can't stay. Sometimes, the doctors have said they have
an
Internet addiction."
There are no numbers of just how many net-addled men have run back
home where they can up their frag count in comfort. But 9 percent of
the 26,500 men called up in 2003 were dismissed for medical reasons,
Reuters said.
If the youngsters can kick "the horse," they're allowed back in the
military. "They get sent home for three years and after that they
have
to come back and we ask if they are OK ... they will have had time to
grow up," Kivela told Reuters.
By that time, however, they're probably making a good wage at Nokia
and more interested in N-Gage bluetooth wars than real battle
training. ®
===============================================
Shebar Windstone <shebar@inch.com>
CHMOD http://www.inch.com/~shebar/
At-Home with Joan Nestle http://www.JoanNestle.com/
Vision of Tibet http://www.VisionofTibet.com/
Chushi Gangdruk http://www.ChushiGangdruk.org/
GLOW Tibet Archives http://www.tibet.org/glow/
TibetanIssues.org http://www.TibetanIssues.org/
(Un)Covering Tibet: Journalists & activists discuss news/media
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/roundtables/tibet_intro.shtml
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Thu, 05 Aug 2004 10:01:56 -0400
Subject: Fun Read
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/05/politics/05terror.html?th
- have fun reading
"Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday that the White House's
only consideration had been the safety of the American people."
What? Did he introduce the national health care initiative? Announced
the mandatory 1-yr maternity leave? Distributed free prescription
medicine to the elderly? Collected assault rifles from non-military
personnel that owns them? No. He merely attacked the former
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean for criticizing of this
glorious Administration....
"Pakistani intelligence officials have said Mr. Khan, a fluent
English speaker, spent time in Britain beginning in November 2002,
taking a course in human resource management from City University,
London, but dropping out after losing interest."
It must have dawned on him that his employees are mostly suicide
bombers. And they don't need pension plans. Maybe he should have gone
to a more cut-throat business school. Harvard or Yale?
"Mr. Khan has told interrogators, the officials said, that two of his
cousins lived in Britain and had been arrested there in 2000 on
suspicion of involvement in terrorism after traveling to Bosnia and
Chechnya to join in militant activities."
What? Weren't Muslims in Chechnya and Bosnia fighting for freedom
before September 11, 2001? Was there a single article in The New York
Times that would label them terrorists before that day? Maybe if they
just stuck to Chechnya and Bosnia, they would still be praised in the
US media as freedom fighters.
"The reports found on Mr. Khan's computer hard drive about the
buildings in the United States were written in what one White House
official has described as "perfect English," suggesting that the
surveillance may have been carried out by or with the help of an
American or someone who had spent considerable time in the United
States or Britain."
Good education is a key to success. Maybe CIA should send their
operatives to spend some time studying at religious schools
(madrassas) in Pakistan. Chanting Koran in Arabic every day for a
couple of years might help them 'get into the mind-set'.....
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Thu, 05 Aug 2004 10:01:56 -0400
Subject: US Nuclear (Un)safety
U.S. to Keep Reactor Lapses Secret
WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (AP) - The government will no longer disclose
security gaps discovered at nuclear power plants, hoping to prevent
terrorists from using the information, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission said on Wednesday. The commission announced the change in
policy during its first public meeting on power plant security since
the Sept. 11 attacks. The change drew condemnation from critics who
said it would erode public confidence in the agency.
>>And what about transparency? What about people living near the
nuclear power plants? Don't they have the right to know about
possible problems there? What about their lives and lives of their
children? Does this also mean that when the reactor melts - like
Three Miles Island did - the official reports would say that
terrorrists blew it up, and after FBI arrests a couple of Mohammads,
the nuclear lobby will be allowed to continue its business as usual?
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 2004 10:11:45 -0400
Subject: Re: (Fwd) Ex-Chess Champ Fischer Renouncing U.S. Citizenship
i just got this from miroslav - scg offered bobby a citizenship!!!!
so the world's best chess player will spend his old years in a villa
on montenegros coast. he still has money. not bad. much better than a
cell in u.s. federal prison, i bet, too.
ivo
On 7 Aug 2004 at 0:16, Maglich, Marko wrote:
Poor guy's pretty messed up. Maybe he has an argument that he has
already lost his citizenship and doesn't need to renounce. Maybe he
could get Yugo citizenship.
Marko C. Maglich
White & Case LLP
-----Original Message-----
from: Ivo Skoric <ivo@reporters.net>
to: ed Agro <edagro@verizon.net>
sent: Fri Aug 06 23:04:26 2004
subject: (Fwd) Ex-Chess Champ Fischer Renouncing U.S. Citizenship
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Reuters
6 August 2004
Ex-Chess Champ Fischer Renouncing U.S. Citizenship
By Masayuki Kitano
TOKYO, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer,
wanted by Washington for defying sanctions on Yugoslavia, plans to
renounce his U.S. citizenship, a lawyer working on his appeal against
deportation from Japan said on Friday.
Fischer, one of the chess world's great eccentrics, was detained at
Tokyo's Narita airport last month when he tried to leave for Manila
on
a passport U.S. officials say was invalid.
Japanese immigration officials rejected Fischer's initial appeal
against deportation and his lawyer, Masako Suzuki, has filed a
second plea to Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa.
In a handwritten note made available to the media, Fischer, 61, said
the U.S. government and "U.S.-controlled Japanese government, working
in collusion and in a criminal conspiracy, have illegally confiscated
and illegally physically destroyed my perfectly valid in every way
U.S. passport."
The letter, copies of which were made available to the media, added:
"As a result of the above-stated criminal act, as well as innumerable
other vicious crimes against me by the U.S. government, I no longer
wish to be an American citizen."
Fischer's lawyer Suzuki told a news conference he would likely become
a stateless person for some time and that his supporters would try to
have the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) register him as a refugee.
Suzuki said Fischer phoned the U.S. embassy in Japan on Thursday and
conveyed his intention to renounce his citizenship.
But renunciation of his citizenship cannot take effect until he has
met a U.S. consular official and conveyed his intent in person, she
said.
A U.S. embassy spokesman declined to comment on the matter of
Fischer's citizenship, but said that in general "renunciation of
citizenship is a process, it takes some time, it's not done
instantly."
Besides filing with the UNHCR, Fischer would also look for countries
willing to let him stay, Suzuki said.
"We want to look far and wide for countries that are willing to
accept
him," Suzuki said.
NO RETURN TO U.S.
She declined to say if Fischer had expressed any preferences but John
Bosnitch, a Tokyo-based Canadian journalist and communications
consultant who is advising Fischer, said Fischer was continuing to
look at the option of seeking German citizenship, since his father
was
German.
Documents to prove his German citizenship were still being collected,
Bosnitch told the same news conference.
Suzuki said she had asked the Tokyo District Court on Friday to
halt deportation procedures against Fischer.
One thing that is clear is that Fischer has no desire to return to
the
United States.
"He doesn't have any expectation of a fair trial in the United
States," Bosnitch said, adding that Fischer himself had said he would
be a victim of "a kangaroo court and a show trial" if he returned to
the United States.
Bosnitch said Fischer had written a second letter renouncing his
citizenship that his supporters would hand to the U.S. embassy in
Tokyo as early as Friday.
Fischer became world chess champion in 1972 when he beat Boris
Spassky
of the Soviet Union in a victory seen as a Cold War propaganda coup
for the United States.
The title was taken from him three years later after his conditions
for a match against Anatoly Karpov, also of the Soviet Union, were
rejected by chess officials.
Karpov became champion by default.
Fischer, who arrived in Japan in April, has been wanted in the
United States since 1992 when he violated U.S. economic sanctions by
going to Yugoslavia for a chess match in which he won $3 million for
beating old rival Spassky.
The elusive chessmaster then vanished, only to resurface after the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States to give an interview to
a
Philippine radio station in which he praised the strikes and said he
wanted to see America "wiped out."
Fischer has filed for refugee status in Japan, which accepts
only political refugees. His supporters in Japan say he is being
persecuted by the United States.
Fischer's supporters say he renewed his passport in 1997 and
never received a letter issued in December 2003 revoking it.
State Department officials in Washington have said it took years
for the legal process to catch up with Fischer.
Fischer, whose mother was Jewish, has also stirred controversy
with anti-Semitic remarks.
___________________________________________________________________
The Associated Press August 6, 2004
Fischer Wants to Renounce Citizenship
By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer
TOKYO, Aug 6 (AP) - Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer,
detained in Japan for allegedly traveling with a revoked U.S.
passport, wants to renounce his American citizenship, his lawyer said
Friday.
Fischer called the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo from detention at Narita
airport outside the capital to tell U.S. officials his demands, his
lawyer Masako Suzuki told reporters at a news conference.
Suzuki said she would submit a letter to the embassy on Fischer's
behalf, and an embassy official will meet him to confirm his
intentions.
"I no longer wish to be an American citizen. Enough is enough,"
he said in a handwritten statement issued through his lawyer.
Fischer's distaste for the United States is well-known. In a radio
interview, he once praised the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,
saying America should be "wiped out."
Fischer's renouncement of his U.S. citizenship could possibly leave
him without a country to call his own, Suzuki said. Fischer would
apply for refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner
for
Refugees as early as Friday, she added.
Fischer's supporters and lawyer are looking for other countries that
might accept him as a refugee.
Fischer has already applied for asylum in Japan, arguing that
the political nature of his "U.S. persecution" makes him eligible for
refugee status in Japan. A decision on that could take months because
the government would probably have to hold a hearing.
Fischer so far has not sought citizenship or refugee status in any
other country, his lawyers and supporters said. But his father is
German and he was considering seeking citizenship there.
In Berlin, a German Foreign Ministry spokesman said on condition
of anonymity that the ministry and the embassy in Tokyo were aware of
the case, but have had no contact with Fischer.
The American chess legend is wanted by U.S. authorities for playing a
1992 match for $3 million in the former Yugoslavia in violation of
international sanctions. He was detained on July 13 while trying to
board a flight to the Philippines.
Fischer is fighting possible deportation to the United States, saying
his passport was revoked without due process. Suzuki said Fischer has
filed a lawsuit in Tokyo District court against two Japanese
immigration officials, saying he had a valid legal status for entry
to
Japan.
Fischer's request to the Justice Ministry to suspend the deportation
process should prevent him from being handed over immediately, Suzuki
said, because Japan may not transfer custody of Fischer while his
court case is being considered.
"We hope the Japanese government treats him fairly," Suzuki said.
Fischer's supporters have acknowledged, however, that past
anti-Semitic statements could hamper his case.
He has said "an international Jewish conspiracy" and a "Jew-
controlled
U.S." are behind plots to both rule the world and ruin his life. He
has also denied the Holocaust.
#########################
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 10:12:45 -0400
Subject: Sick, Poor and Undocumented
The US is a really nice country to those who are young, healthy and
rich. It is less suited for those ailing and poor. And it sucks for
those who are here illegal, on top of being poor and sick.
Here is another controversial policy. Each year it costs hospitals
around the States millions of dollars to treat undocumented aliens
who do not have insurance and are too poor to pay for service. Yet,
the sickness does not ask for ID when it descends on you.
Now Federal Government offers aid - $1B - to hospitals to treat
illegals who fell sick. The catch 22 is that hospitals have to
certify that the aid is really used for that purpose. Therefore they
have to check the immigration status of the patients they treat.
But under current anti-immigrant anxiety no illegal immigrant would
volunteer the information on their immigration status lightly.
Bizzarely, the new legislation, with all its good intentions to help,
may actually prevent sick undocumented aliens from seeking help, thus
contributing to a possible spread of communicable diseases.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/10/politics/10health.html?th
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 10:52:31 -0400
Subject: Justice is sluggish and cumbersome....
....and it will not prevail.
Deportation without a Trial
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/11/politics/11immig.html?th
Message from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement: we
shall wait for no stinking judge any more in our efforts to rid the
homeland of the undocumented! Go ask for asylum in Russia. Now every
border guard has the right to deport at whim. Not that it was much
better earlier: illegals were excluded at the border, i.e. put in
detention (jail) until the hearing. At the hearing they were mostly
deported. Now, the sarcasm of the 'fair hearing' is done away with.
So, that detention center coveted floor space may be freed up for the
upcoming raids against illegal immigrants already in the U.S. It is
actually better for the undocumented caught at the border: now they
are deported immediately, so they can try to enter the U.S. in the
trunk of a car again within a week. Previously, they had to wait
maybe a year to do so.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4408426,00.html
Message from the air travel companies: do not fly. Take a train, or
go by boat. You will save time - maybe years of detention -
particularly if your name sounds Arabic enough to be mistakenly
confused with a name of some alleged terrorist.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/11/politics/11terror.html?th
Message from the Department of Homeland Security: leave your camera
at home while traveling to and through the U.S., or risk being
arrested, or worse - particularly if you are Arab, Muslim, or both.
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 10:58:51 -0400
Subject: We NEED peace.
When will the U.S. be ready to vote for a president who is not a war-
monger? Why does Kerry need to display his military credentials so
prominently to be considered a worthy contender? Why do his campaign
people rush to portray him as a pro-war, when more than a half of the
nation - not to count on those who avoid to be polled at all costs,
because they are already so sickened of the "system" - is anti-war?
Why did he give precisely the wrong answer to the Bush's question
about whether he would vote "yes" for the war even if he knew that
there was no WMD-s to be found? Why is he giving the blessing to
Bush's war if he is running against Bush? It is a conundrum. But an
important one for the world peace - because that's exactly what is at
stake in this elections, considering how much money this country
spends on military. What does Kerry thinks military buys with that
money? Milk?
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 11:59:24 -0400
Subject: Insidious Changes
While you are busy watching on TV how the federal government spends
your dollars on blowing up dirt houses in dessert, the ever larger
administration regulates ever more things in your every day life.
Their push for enormous extra-legislative regulation they call small
government. The effect of the paperwork-reduction act, that actually
increased the amount of paperwork needed to be filed, is observable
everywhere - if you have the time and inclination to look. It is just
that the "reduction" does reduce worries for the big, for the rich,
for the corporate. You - you are reduced to a subject of government's
whims. Communists or feudal kings were no better at that. And if it
is not so tragic, it would actually be a good comedy. Consider this:
for years the trucking accidents were related to the long hours of
driving. So, the consumer advocates asked for the reduction of the
hours truckers are continuously driving. Logically, that should
reduce number of accidents. But that would also hurt the bottom line
of the big trucking companies that rely on the cargo being delivered
as fast as possible - the more hours on the road, the costlier it
gets. Those costs they can either pass on consumers and loose
business, Or they can cut their profits, perish the thought. They
found that the most cost-effective is to elect THEIR president and
lobby him to regulate their business clandestinely, behind the loud
news about Najaf. Now they got a regulation that will allow truckers
to drive even LONGER continuous hours. And the best part is that the
Department of Transportation finally issuing a new rule, said in a
prepared statement that it would "save hundreds of lives". Talk about
doublespeak....
ivo
"Under regulations unchanged since 1939, truckers could drive 10
hours at a stretch and then had to rest for eight hours. The rules,
Congress said, were to be changed to "reduce fatigue-related
incidents and increase driver alertness." At that time, both the
Senate and the House were under Republican control, and lawmakers
began debating what to do.
The truck-related accident death toll hit a new high in 1997; 5,398
people died. Congress went further in 1999 and created a new federal
agency, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the
Clinton administration set a goal of reducing truck-related accident
fatalities by half over the following 10 years.
Consumer and driver-safety groups, including Public Citizen and
Parents Against Tired Truckers, started lobbying the new agency to
shorten the number of hours drivers could stay behind the wheel. But
trucking industry officials argued that shorter shifts would disrupt
delivery schedules, which in turn would raise prices on thousands of
products delivered by truck.
Last year, the Department of Transportation finally issued a new
rule, saying in a prepared statement that it would "save hundreds of
lives" and "protect billions in commerce." The change would increase
allowable driving time from 10 hours without a break to 11 hours. But
after 11 hours, drivers would have to take 10 hours off instead of
eight.
Trucking companies said they were satisfied with the rule while truck
drivers deplored it, saying the added hours of driving time would
increase driver fatigue.
Public Citizen and the other safety groups filed suit, saying the new
rule, in all its detail, actually increased driving hours per week by
30 percent. The suit is pending. Joan Claybrook, the president of
Public Citizen, said the new rule "does nothing positive, it does a
lot of negative, and it's a big waste of four years' effort."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/14/politics/14bush.html?pagewanted=1&th
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 11:39:49 -0400
Subject: Interpellation Needed
Here is an idea for the Democrats - coming from a tiny European
country of Slovenia - where the opposition decided to grill the
entire government just before the elections accusing them of lying
and reneging on their promises, which is pretty much what Bush could
easily be blamed for. This process is called interpellation. Maybe
Supreme Court can undo what it has done for years ago?
Slovenia: No Rest for the Weary
by Ales Gaube, 2 August 2004
The Slovenian opposition files a motion accusing the government of
gross mismanagement, setting the stage for an inflammatory debate
right before parliamentary elections.
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia--Despite the summer holidays, politicians in
Slovenia aren't taking much of a break. Two months before
parliamentary elections, the election campaign started with a bang as
two opposition parties filed a rare interpellation motion against the
entire government on 29 July.
“The government likes to cloud things with its promises about the
future, but now the time has come for the government to account for
its work at the end of its term,” said Andrej Bajuk, president of the
opposition New Slovenia (NSi), on 30 July, as he explained the
motives for filing the interpellation.
A parliamentary interpellation instigates a debate about the
performance of a minister or government, with the accused
answering questions and responding to the opposition’s allegations.
The opposition can use this instrument to try to oust a minister or
even an entire cabinet, with the possibility of calling a vote of no
confidence at the end of the debate. Though Bajuk and his partners
have said they won’t call for the dissolution of the government, the
debate itself could play a key role in swaying the huge number of
currently undecided voters.
In the interpellation, 11 parliamentary deputies from the Slovenian
Democrats (SDS) and Nsi accuse the governing coalition of reneging on
promises made at the beginning of its mandate, of poor governance,
of cronyism, and of mounting corruption. The 44-page indictment
claims that the government has performed especially poorly since
Anton Rop succeeded Janez Drnovsek, the current president, as prime
minister. The coalition is composed of the Liberal Democrats (LSD),
the Unified List of Social Democrats (ZLSD), and the Pensioners Party
(DeSUS). The People’s Party (SLS) left the coalition this past April.
SPARING ALMOST NO ONE The opposition took aim most frequently at the
government’s economic record and its inability to fulfill various
pledges made at the beginning of its term. While coalition leaders
had promised 5 percent economic growth, the figure has actually been
falling for the last four years, with GDP at just 2.3 percent for
2003--the lowest since Slovenia’s independence. Efforts to
cut unemployment have fared even worse: Despite Rop’s promises to
halve unemployment, the number of those out of a job has dropped by
only 3 percent, from 7 percent of the work force to 6.8 percent. And,
the opposition claimed, nothing happened even though the government
showed a willingness to prime the pump, accumulating 1 billion euros
in public debt over the last two years and a total of 2 billion euros
over the course of its term in office. The interpellation also found
fault with an alleged flourishing of corruption and cronyism among
government officials, unpunished white-collar crime, long court
backlogs that deprive citizens of their ability to seek justice, and
the government’s supposed failure to adopt an efficient health care
reform program. (Copyright © 2004 Transitions Online)
-----snip-----
Gosh, doesn't the opposition everywhere in the world complain about
the same things...
While it is obvious that the U.S. is not the only country in the
world with bad government at the moment, it certainly is the most
powerful one at it. This country's spending on military is in the
range of South Korea's or India's GDP.
And the opinion of many of its citizens is that they indeed have some
God given right to repair the wrongs in other countries (see the
article in NYT about Wisconsin, and that guy who says that US should
have removed Saddam even if he did not develop WMDs - echoing Kerry's
answer to Bush on the war).
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/politics/campaign/15WISCONSIN.html?t
h
That makes the bad government in this country a great danger not only
to this country but also to the world as a whole. Therefore the
American domestic policy should be of interest to every man and woman
around the globe.
THIS, for example, is one of the wrongs brought to the world by Bush -
possibility of being arrested for taking a picture in the land of
the free:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/181978_robert14.html
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 10:47:30 -0400
Subject: Croatia: home of the deepest hole in the world
Well, not exactly the most popular world record... but it may come
handy. Fortunately, the hole is freshly discovered and not that easy
to access, so it did not become a mass graveyard during recent wars
(like many of similar, albeit of lesser depth, holes in near-by
Bosnia did). The use of them always reminds me of I.G.Kovacic's poem
"Jama" ("Hole").
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/08/09/croatia.deep.cavern.ap/inde
x.html
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 10:47:29 -0400
Subject: ACLU: Special Update
A comment to that: I used to be on similar lists in former
Yugoslavia. Eventually, however, Yugoslavia disappeared from the
maps, and I got asylum in the U.S. I hope, whoever is in charge up
there, reads this and gets the point.
It is atrocious to just list names and say do not employ those
people. Because it is true that many people have the same name. And
it is also true that terrorists are likely to use false names,
anyway.
I would like to know whether my name is on the lists again?! If
employers are supposed to check names of new hires against the lists,
then lists must have been made public somewhere? I haven't seen the
advertisement yet, though.
Checking the names and birth-dates may prove more accurate, but only
if a) employer, indeed, harms civil rights of new hires asking them
for their birthdate (as pointed by ACLU's Antonio Romero) and b) if
the birth dates on record are correct.
Let's assume that I am on the list. What birthdate would they have
for me? The one that the INS (or BICE, today) has for me, or the one
that the SSA has for me? And they are different. Not by my fault. But
by the fault of the sloppy, lazy, slow, disinterested, and uncivil
administration that burdens this country (the one of those two
agencies read one number in my birth date wrong, and did not change
their mistake, even after my repeated warnings in writing and copies
of the birth certificate I sent them...).
And there are no lists that will solve that, or help fight terrorism,
as long as there is incompetent bureaucracy around to screw things
up. Please, remember, that I am talking from experience.
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 10:47:25 -0400
Subject: Abu what?
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/19/politics/19abuse.html?th
I bet that by November most Americans would not know the difference
between Abu Dhabi and Abu Ghraib.
I am also sure that if the task to investigate Srebrenica massacres
was given to the Serbian military special investigator, they would
conclude that the mistreatment was limited to the actions of a few
soldiers and the failure of a few leaders to supervise them.
Milosevic would never be found at blame, would he?
And what is this with keeping people naked in the cells? In the
country so prudish a governor has to resign because he is gay, do all
perverts become prison guards?
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/19/politics/19witness.html?pagewanted=1
&th
ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 11:57:49 -0400
Subject: The New Axis
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/news/article/1086904800.php
http://www.nirs.org/mononline/nm611.pdf
Forget about Iran and North Korea. How about the German nuclear bomb?
Germany was the first to think about the weapon, and if it had the
opportunity (not being bombed by allies daily in 1944 and 1945), it
would probably be the first country to have the bomb.
After the war, Germany put in its constitution that it will never
have any WMD-s. But it also put in its constitution not to send
Bundeswher soldiers in other countries - a pledge already broken with
the blessing of international community. And being still at the
cutting edge scientifically, Germany was instrumental in developing
Pakistani nuclear program.
Today Germany is looking forward to the EU army, instead of NATO. It
looks not to follow the ruinous lead of the US any more, but rather
to create a parity to the US, with help of France, UK, and Russia.
One of the ideas is to create a European nuclear program, and improve
on the systems already in production in France and UK.
On top of that, Germany has its own research reactor FRM-II in
Garching near Munich. Like Israel's Dimona and Iran's Buchehr, that
reactor has only one purpose: to produce weapons. With the purchase
of highly-enriched uranium from Russia (after the sole NATO enriched
uranium producer, the US, refused to sell), Garching center is far
closer to producing the bomb than Buchehr, and out of range of
Israeli air force, too.
How do those news combine with the US military presence in Germany
(ok, Pentagon announced reduction of troop numbers there, but still,
the main US military hospital for Europe/Middle East is in Germany)?
Is the US going to include Germany in the "axis of evil" now? Are B-2
bombers going to be send on the mission of destroying the reactor?
What does the IAEA say to Garching?
Also, how does the development of nuclear weapons sit with the Greens
who are now in German government? Considering that they became a
political party out of the protests against (U.S.) nuclear missile
bases and against use of nuclear energy? How can Jossca Fischer be a
German foreign minister while Garching is in operation? Given his
history, he should either resign or publicly oppose the reactor.
Locals opposed the reactor for 15 years and filed more than 15,000
objections. The reactor, operating with enriched uranium, is much
more dangerous than regular nuclear reactors. Being in the
residential area - Germany is so densely populated, that for the
purposes of nuclear fall-out, the entire country should be considered
a residential area - a decision to operate such a facility near
Munich is insane, even if Germany might not be a terrorist target
because of its help to Pakistan to develop their nuclear bombs. What
is something go wrong by accident? Wasn't that what Greens were
asking in 1980's?
Munich is a nice town. I think people should see it while it is still
there.
ivo
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